Resistance is futile!

Resistance is Futile!

Kelly Loeffler, Trump’s nominee to head the Small Business Administration, was in the news. When she showed up at the SBA, she was struck by how few employees were at work in the office. She posted a video of empty cubicles and said that over 90 percent of the employees were absent from the office. Loeffler went on to say that she was fully supportive of Trump’s (actually Elon Musk’s) order to return to work. My question is why couldn’t she have ordered that the workers come back to the office herself? It will be interesting to see how many federal employees quit. Some have whined that their commute will be four hours and they will quit first rather than have to face the DC traffic. Gee, why do you live four hours away from your job in the first place? Have you been on the Beltway? Its brutal almost 24/7. 

During my years in DC I lived in the city and my son went to public schools. But I lived in the Palisades area near Georgetown University and not across the Anacostia River. Certainly, those government employees could have found suitable housing west of Rock Creek Park. But I wager that these liberal democrats are terrified at living in mostly black DC and sending their kids to public schools. Don’t they know that most black DC politicians send their kids to private schools? I am now waiting to see the reaction when Trump – having read my blog? – orders the agencies out of DC. He wants to drain the swamp and that is the way to do it. I bet that at least 50 percent will quit.

Loeffler was confirmed by a vote of 52-46. I went “huh”? Why did 46 democrats vote against her? Jacky Rosen was the only democrat who voted for her. I thought it would be unanimous since she served in the senate from my home state of Georgia. Didn’t Marco Rubio get confirmed unanimously? So why not Loeffler? 

I wondered about the other nominees. Turns out that ten democrats only voted for one nominee (Marco Rubio). Five democrats voted for two. Bernie Sanders is one of these along with Chuck Schumer. The only nominees not to get a single democrat vote were Pete Hegseth, Russell Voight (called the most dangerous nominee), Tulsi Gabbard, RFK, jr and Howard Lutnick. Howard Lutnick? Among the republicans Mitch McConnell voted against three while Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski voted against two (Hegseth and Kash Patel). Kristin Guillibrand was the senator one who voted against most of the nominees. Four democrats voted for ten of the nominees. They were John Fetterman (no surprise), Maggie Hassan, Rueben Gallego (big surprise) and Jeanne Shaheen (again no surprise). The nominee getting the next most votes was Brooke Rollins with 72-28. Again the opposition was symbolic rather than substantial. Rollins should have been unanimously confirmed.

I don’t know legislative history but I would guess that these are the most “no” votes ever received by a presidential slate of nominees. The open hostility shown to many of these nominees reflected badly on the democrats. Elizabeth Warren, Mazie Hirono and Guillibrand, in the words of my sainted mother, “showed out”. I guess that they and most on their side of the aisle will be in the resistance and seek to block Trump and his cabinet from reforming the government. But as I have said before, just be cool. When the democrats return to the White House, as eventually they will, all will be restored. DEI and trans policies will be resuscitated, funding will be appropriated and the waste and fraud that the democrats love so well will return. But in the meanwhile, to the surprise of many – including me – Trump has gotten all his people across the finish line. The most intriguing nominee is still to come. Its the nominee for secretary of labor, Lori Chavez-DeRemer who was a sop to the Teamsters. My bet is that she will get more democrat votes than any other nominee and have the most republican opposition. She has been voted out of committee with 8 of the 11 democrats surprisingly voting “no”. Those 8 would vote against the Pope if he were a Trump nominee. Rand Paul was the only republican opposed. She will be easily confirmed. To quote the Borg, “Resistance is futile.”